Google To Launch Health Service 'Google Fit' At Developers Conference

forbes.com

13 points·EFelson··3 comments

I'm very excited about wearables in the near future, but they are currently a curious case of public attention outpacing the technology. "Sleep trackers" are a joke, current pedometers aren't very accurate, and basic things like heart rate and blood pressure monitors are still a ways off from solid implementation.

At least this will have open APIs. I had a fitbit until I found out they don't let you easily get YOUR OWN DATA off the thing. The healthcare insights derived from better wearables, at scale, are going to be huge.

I would absolutely love to have an open, accurate sleep tracker. I've had a total of 7 sleep studies and multiple sleep latency tests (narcolepsy, cataplexy and mild apnea solved via a tonsillectomy), and I am constantly dismayed by how poor the space for optimizing sleep is. So much so, that I may seriously consider exploring the space in a year or two to find startup opportunities. Everybody sleeps and everybody would benefit from better quality sleep.

Likewise. That was my primary reason for buying the FitBit originally; I was disappointed at how inaccurate it was, even with the tempered expectation of knowing it was just a 3-axis accelerometer. That being said, FitBit et al. do seem to be making headway on getting people to buy into a device that is always on you, touching your skin. That is a prerequisite for any sleep tracker that didn't seem palatable only a few years ago (e.g. Zeo).

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